Patent No. FR-2600512 A1 discloses a manual toothbrush including a toothbrush head and a toothbrush head carrier. The carrier is arranged in a U-shaped fashion such that bristle clusters arranged on the brushing side of the U-shaped carrier converge to form a receptacle space, into which individual teeth as well as part of the gums can penetrate. During brushing, the bristle clusters simultaneously clean the inside and the outside surfaces of both the teeth and marginal gums.
A pivot bearing connects the toothbrush head to the handle and allows the toothbrush head to pivot about the handle. Because the toothbrush head is free to pivot about the handle, the U-shaped carrier of the toothbrush head continuously encompasses the teeth during brushing. Thus, the opposing bristles are always directed essentially perpendicular to the inside and outside surfaces of the teeth and gums.
Nevertheless, the prior art design requires the toothbrush head to be aligned with a row of teeth for each newly beginning brushing process such that it can be placed over the teeth and is not oriented transverse thereto.